Friday, December 10, 2010

She was getting ready to fry some okra when the mailman pushed her letters through the slot in her front door. The oil was heating on the stove as she stepped away to gather the mail. One of the items was a package from Amazon with her new copy of Dead Lift.

But that isn't what got her attention. An envelope was wedged in the slot that had a Sprint rebate for $100 that she'd mailed days ago. Somehow, it had gotten smashed up in there and the mailman had missed it. This bugged her. Soon the rebate would expire.

And then she pulled Dead Lift out of its packaging, and instead of finding the hardcover she was expecting, she was holding a large print paperback. "Whoa, there! My eyes! How did this happen? Who messed up my order? Am I going to get a refund from Amazon?"

Meanwhile, grease fire!

The pan was in flames. Not as high as this picture. She went to handle it. She assures me that, at this point, she was very calm. An extinguisher was near, but first she removed the pan from the burner. Then, since it was a grease fire, she thought she would toss flour on it to put it out. The flour (from making the fried okra) was right there.

Only, not flour.

It was powered sugar.

Whoosh! More fire.

Then she started to freak out because the flames were high! She tried again to move the pan and it fell, splattered hot grease all over the floor, burned the rug.

And her hand. :(

At last, water put it out. Three hours of icing her hand contained the burn damage.

Such a scary story. I hate that it was peripherally tied to the receipt of a Dead Lift copy.